Worth the Wait
by anthem2521
Summary: Based on SyFy'S Alice: Hatter waits for Alice to return home, and wonders if he is doing the right thing.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing. I saw Alice and immediately fell in love with Hatter and Alice. Here is a small plot bunny who wished to be written. Enjoy!**

Lyrics by Tal Bachman, Song "She's so high"

_She's blood, flesh and bone_

_No tucks or silicone_

_She's touch, smell, sight, taste and sound_

_But somehow I can't believe_

_That anything should happen_

_I know where I belong_

_And nothing's gonna happen_

_Yeah, yeah_

_'Cause she's so high..._

_High above me, she's so lovely_

_She's so high..._

_Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc or Aphrodite_

_She's so high..._

_High above me_

* * *

The Looking Glass technician gave one solid push and she disappeared.

Just like that.

Gone.

Hatter closed his mouth, the reply to her soft, "and other things" died on arrival, because she was gone. His heartbeat thundered in his ears, its sound clouding everything around him. Off to his right, a flash of red appeared closer and the King of Hearts with his gleaming golden hair gave him a solemn, almost pitting look.

Hatter ignored him and just stared at his reflection in the glass, mouth agape. _Her_ jacket, it ceased to belong to him the moment it touched her skin, was draped so lovely on his arm, so empty of _her._

What the hell had she meant, "other things"? Why hadn't he asked her to stay? Why hadn't he gone with her?

Gone.

Just like that.

He closed his eyes, trying to neutralize the sting around them and dissolve the lump in his throat.

"You could always go." A deep voice, elegant and refined said. A voice belonging to a man Hatter would have happily traded places with when he walked into the room and saw Alice hugging _him._ The man she had traversed worlds to find. Her love, her boyfriend.

Hatter looked at the new King, blinking at the smug smile gracing his thin lips. An hour ago Hatter would have called him a self- righteous bastard, so idealistic he could never make _his_ Alice happy. She needed a man, not a visionary, not a crusader, just someone who wanted her-completely. Now, the same man stared at Hatter, his blue eyes twinkled and hurt, said "Seems a kingdom isn't good enough for our Alice."

"Wut?" Hatter uttered, his voice tight and raw.

Jack stared at the glass as a new set of oysters walked towards it and were assisted through.

"Offered her a kingdom and the girl had the nerve to say she, 'wanted something else.' Honestly, fickle women and their desires." The King shot him another glance and said, "Now, I am not happy she said no, but I would like to know she is safe on the other side. Someone really should go and check on her-who knows what trouble she will get into on her own."

Hatter focused on the Looking Glass again and then at the King. An hour ago he would have said, "All Hail King Jackass!"

Now all he could say was a single word.

"Thanks"

**Twenty Minutes before Alice Ran...**

Was tonight the night? He wonders, chopping down on his new favorite food: pizza with the works. Alice's apartment said nothing to him, but he could see shadows behind the thin curtains illuminated by her apartment. It had to be tonight, taking another bite, trying to blend into the shadows. After all, Jack walked in all sure of himself only an hour before.

It had to be tonight.

"About bloody time," he muttered, washing down the meal with a soda. Damn Looking Glass threw him back in time instead of him arriving a few moments after her. He had woken up in an alien world, alone and months before Alice and he had ever met. He spent that time getting used to her world.

Waiting.

Just waiting.

She never knew but he watched her. His days and nights started and ended observing her and trying to figure out when Alice would take her tumble down the Looking Glass.

He tried not to walk up to her a hundred times. Her long black hair flowing behind her. Her eyes sparking and sharp. He tried not to cringe when the King, no Jack Chase, finally made his appearance. Instead, Hatter worked, and kept low. Survival was one skill he was able to use regardless of the world he was in. That, and figuring out how to buy things with the green paper Alice once tired to give him.

It hurt, deep down, when he saw them kiss for the first time. It burned his eyes and made his stomach knot.

He didn't eat much the next few days.

_First class and fancy free_

_She's high society_

_She's got the best of everything_

The Looking Glass and him had become friends over the last few months. He often came in the night after another futile attempt at sleep. Just him and the gilded frame kept each other company. Maybe he went a little mad then, sitting on the floor, talking to a mirror, watching his reflection melt into the blackness creeping around him.

What the hell was he doing here? He wondered. Imagining again her face, pale and flawless, her blue eyes wide and strong, bravery and stubbornness etched in every line of her and the lingering feel of her arms around him as she said goodbye.

_What could a guy like me _

_Ever really offer?_

_She's perfect as she can be_

_Why should I even bother?_

He came close one night to pressing his hand on the glass after he saw them again wrapped around each other like a dream and nightmare. She could have a King. A Kingdom. What could he offer her, only his heart and a battered jacket. His fingertips were only a hair's breath away, doubts bombarding his skull, and then she came to his head, her eyes searching, and her lips whispering, _"and other things."_

He closed his fingers into a fist and hit the wall. Laughing into the empty darkness, He cradled his head against his hand, calling himself a fool, a lovesick idiot, wondered if somehow she had slipped him a drop of Devotion along with Blind Hope during their time together.

That small sliver of faith bloomed taking root in the center of his soul refusing to let go. It often sounded like Jack saying, _"Offered her a kingdom and the girl had the nerve to say she, 'wanted something else.'"_

If you had told him a day before he met her, he was going to run off to the land of Oysters, fall for one, basically reduce himself to a hopeless dandelion waiting for just a look from her, he would have chuckled and would have tried to sell you a nice bottle of Clarity and tell you to keep off the Delusion.

But here he was, hiding, working each day, passing all those around him, with Time as his only friend and bitter enemy.

Especially, when Time felt very generous and allowed the hours he had to waste until the next morning stretched into almost infinity, allowing such ideas as "Am I making an ass of myself? What if she sees me after she comes back and all she does is laugh? What if she doesn't care? What the hell am I doing here? "to plagued him.

Yes, Time sure was a great pal.

The pizza hits the pavement when he sees her run out of her apartment building. He follows her down the alley and watches her argue with White Rabbit. He wants to call out, to tell her to stop, but he doesn't. White Rabbit grabs the case and runs, Alice gives chase and Hatter chases her, trying not to lose sight. Never losing sight of her.

The Looking Glass looms in the dank room and White Rabbit falls through. Alice tries to stop but can't and is swallowed.

Hatter touches the frame. The cool wood is nice against his warm hand.

He waits.

**An Hour Later**

She is spit out of the glass like an afterthought or a bad clam. He smiles at the thought and just stares down at her peaceful face. Noise comes above him and Hatter cries out, "Found her!"

**Some Time Later**

They won't let him into the hospital room. "Strange," he hears the nurse whispering, "she was only missing an hour but she is dehydrated and in a deep sleep." He notices another woman coming in and out of Alice's room. She touches the door, love marking her face.

Alice's mum, he thinks and then walks up to her saying, "Hello Ms. Hamilton. I'm David the construction worker who found your daughter."

She smiles wide and clear. It looks like Alice's. He grins back.

**The Next Day**

His knuckles rapped on the door. He carries her jacket. Maybe if she sees it, she will remember him? Maybe after everything it will be okay? Maybe his luck would change and he would win out? His heart threatens to bust out of his chest. He feels lightheaded and a little queasy. It has been so long for him but for her it has been only a moment.

Her mother opens the door, "Oh David, come in!" She gestures him to enter and he literally reminds himself how to walk.

_Left_

_Right_

_Left_

_Right_

He places her jacket on a chair and notices noise coming from the back of the house and he sees her starting to walk down the corridor, her eyes downcast, lost in thought.

_Please remember,_ he pleads to all divine beings here and anywhere.

_Please want me,_ a smaller voice begs.

She comes closer, her steps small and perfect, her eyes lift and they lock with his.

_She comes to speak to me_

_I freeze immediately_

_'Cause what she says sounds so unreal_

He forgets to breathe.

It feels like a fist squeezing his heart, oblivious to living, everything he ever wanted reflected in those glorious blue eyes.

"Hatter!" she cries and runs-RUNS to him, slamming into his arms. She holds on to him, as tight as a jacket, smelling sweet of peppermint and cranberries.

Her weight settles into his body and for the first time in months, he feels open-alive. Free.

He releases a stuttered breath, wrapping his arms around her and says, "Finally."

She pulls back, her eyes bright and brilliant like undiluted Joy.

"I missed you." She says and his heart almost collapses under the strain. Her lips, like soft coral, were right under his, and without thinking, without questioning, he lowers his head.

Yep, just as he thought...

Definitely worth the wait.


End file.
